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Since the end of MasterChef on Sunday, a lot of people have been left with gaping holes in their lives. Many chose to fill the void with Dance Your Ass Off, if tonight’s Twitter trending topics is any indication.

What a spectacle; the fishnets, the spandex, the big hair…and that was just the host. Just kidding. Real car-crash stuff – can’t wait to see tomorrow’s ratings.

Speaking of ratings, boy did I get it wrong on the finale of MasterChef. I blame Matt Preston. I thought it would do more than 3 million, he wasn’t so sure, so I revised down to 2.6 to 2.8.

Should have stuck with my instinct – an average 3.72 million tuned in with a peak of 4.11 million – making it the most watched non-sporting event ever and Ten’s highest rating show. It was the third most watched show ever behind the 2005 Australian Open men’s final and 2003 World Cup Soccer Australia v England.

There are several new shows premiering tomorrow (Wednesday) with World’s Strictest Parents on Seven competing against Australia’s Perfect Couple on Nine. The latter is cringe-worthy, unless you think blindfolded kissing and an electric shock test will help determine who makes a perfect match. And host Jules Lund looks a bit like he has spent too much time on a Getaway sun and surf story.

Pick of Wednesday night is Fox8’s new drama The Secret Life of an American Teenager, a surprisingly poignant and humorous family/teen drama. Everyone’s favourite 80s teen flick star Molly Ringwald is the mother of a pretty, polite, all round nice girl who shocks her friends by getting pregnant at band camp.

Secret Life was created by Brenda Hampton of 7th Heaven fame but don’t let that deter you. The show’s second series recently started in the US so it has legs.

Seven has a big Thursday with the belated return of The Amazing Race, plus new Aussie shows TV Burp and Double Take. If the latter two programs can live up to the promos, we should be in for a laugh-filled night, even if a lot of the comedy in Double Take seems to rest on the shoulders of Paul McCarthy.

I’ve somehow managed to steer my eyes away from finding out the winner of TAR (series 14 ended in the US in May) thus far but am sure I will inadvertently see a spoiler soon. The first episode moves at a cracking pace and has two of the best challenges ever – a 70 storey bungee jump off a dam and a Swiss cheese challenge in which the giant wheels of cheese escape and cause mayhem. Hilarious!

Add that to the usual weird and wonderful mix of hillbillies, bimbos, bickering couples etc. You can read more about TAR in The West on Thursday.

This Saturday at 7.30pm there’s the second season premiere of East of Everything on the ABC with Susie Porter and Richard Roxburgh (who has just been cast by Ten to play Bob Hawke). Meanwhile on SBS, those Mythbusters will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing with a special where they put conspiracy theories to the test to see whether the whole thing could have been a hoax.

I’m reserving judgment on Ten’s The 7pm Project which like any new live/news-panel/talk show needs time to find its feet (and audience). It has had good and bad moments so far.

James’ opening night assessment of the 60 Minutes Jamie Neale story was pretty funny but Carrie’s blank moment this evening and the cross to MasterChef’s Julie cooking for a winner’s family didn’t quite cut it.

Had no idea who the entertainment reporter was so looked it up on the program website and eventually worked out she is Aleisha McCormack, a TV producer and standup comedian. 7pm Project site actually called her MacCormack but Google helped me anway. According to IMDB she was also a researcher on Glenn Robbins’ series Out of the Question.

If 7pm Project could just drop the use of the B word rhyming with witch, I think I’d be quite content. Although it’s not as family-friendly as MasterChef (which come to think of it did drop the S word a lot) it beats Home and Away and 2 1/2 Men.

Published by Sue Yeap

1 Comment

Looks like you are “Dancing your Ass Off” (Down Under) these days & well surprised at how good the show is doing in the ratings!!! Hilarious! Keep Watching Australia and see the transformations of all the contestants…
You can’t help but be inspired!